Capturing the Zombie Treasure

The one who had come was Zhang Ming, racing back from the Cemetery outside the city.

When he discovered at the Cemetery that Old Steward's corpse had vanished, Zhang Ming instantly realized something was wrong and rushed home at full speed.

Fortunately, Zhang Ming was no weakling. With tens of thousands of jin of tremendous strength throughout his body, a single leap carried him dozens—nearly a hundred—meters.

In only a brief moment, he had returned from outside the city to its heart.

And then the scene from moments ago had unfolded.

"Are you all right, Old Wang?"

Wang Song hurriedly said, "Young Master, run, quickly! This is a monster from the legends: a Zombie."

"Mm, don't panic. Leave it to me."

Zhang Ming steadied himself, and another spear appeared in his hand.

He looked at the Zombie in the distance. Its clothes had been reduced to scraps, its entire body was rotten and bluish-black, and it gave off a foul stench. There was not the slightest trace left of Old Steward's former appearance.

Staring at the Zombie, Zhang Ming's eyes brimmed with curiosity.

"Zombie, Zombie, Zombie... Zombies actually really exist."

"Why was he able to become a Zombie? How did he come back from the dead? What is the source of his energy and motive power? What supports his drive to avenge himself against my Zhang Family? Does coming back from the dead cause such a massive increase in strength?"

And so on and so forth.

A string of questions surfaced in Zhang Ming's mind.

It was not that Zhang Ming was letting his thoughts run wild. He was simply far too curious.

If it was the existence of Demon Beasts, that was still within the bounds of comprehension.

Demon Beasts could simply be understood as animals that automatically—or instinctively—cultivated "Vital Energy."

But an existence like a Zombie, one that returned from the dead, was on an entirely different level from martial arts and Demon Beasts.

They were as unrelated as wind and horse, impossible to connect even with an eight-zhang pole—beings from two completely different worlds.

"How fascinating."

As a transmigrator, and with a tool like [Ignite Comprehension] for "research," "study," and "unraveling the secrets of heaven and earth,"

Zhang Ming's curiosity—his thirst for knowledge—was terrifyingly high!

Though countless thoughts churned through his mind, Zhang Ming had not forgotten the matter at hand.

Coming back to himself, his gaze fell upon the Zombie not far away.

"I can handle it. Endless strength and tough skin are advantages to them."

"To me, its strength is passable. It would count as no weak existence among Postnatal Martial Artists.

As for tough skin, overwhelming force can break it."

"That leaves only one final uncertainty: a Zombie's immortality."

With that thought, his gaze settled on the Zombie's head, which had long been rendered unrecognizable, its flesh mangled and bloody, with faintly visible white maggots writhing within.

ROAR—

The Zombie roared and lunged at Zhang Ming like a sharp sword shooting straight ahead.

In the blink of an eye, it crossed more than ten meters.

But Zhang Ming was faster.

With a lift of his hand, the spear flew from his grasp.

Whoosh—

The spear flashed like lightning, instantly striking the Zombie's head.

Pfft.

Before that terrifying brute force, the hard skull was utterly unable to withstand a single blow.

The spear plunged straight into its skull and brain, piercing through it in an instant.

That was not all. The immense momentum sent the Zombie flying again, pinning it against a wall more than ten meters away.

Another spear appeared in his hand. Zhang Ming watched the distance warily, just about to strike again, when he discovered in surprise—

"It's stopped moving?"

"No, it's still moving. Its bodily activity is declining; it's becoming sluggish."

In the distance, the spear had pierced through its head and nailed the Zombie to the wall.

With its head pierced through, the Zombie's body no longer reacted with the same lightning speed as before. It had become incomparably sluggish, even slower than an ordinary person.

"Is it dealt with?"

"But... it still isn't completely dead? What terrifying vitality."

"I'm truly curious—where does such horrifying vitality come from?"

Beside him.

Hearing his young master's words, Wang Song could not help but shudder.

The bright gleam in his young master's eyes, that blazing desire, filled Wang Song with fear.

Perhaps even Zhang Ming himself could not sense it.

The scientific mindset he had received since childhood in his previous life, coupled with [Ignite Comprehension], had heightened his thirst for knowledge to a terrifying degree.

A moment later.

As time passed, the zombie pinned to the wall moved more and more sluggishly, until it became completely still.

Zhang Ming stepped closer and discovered that the zombie seemed to have lost some essential spark of vitality, becoming a corpse.

Uh, it had been a corpse to begin with.

In any case.

The zombie was dead, so long as no one touched the Long Spear embedded in its head.

The zombie was dead!

"How strange. The Long Spear didn't kill the zombie—it merely 'sealed' it.

Or, to put it another way, the Long Spear disrupted the zombie's normal functioning, causing its body to 'freeze up.'"

His curiosity growing ever stronger, Zhang Ming came to a decision on how to handle the zombie.

"Someone, place the zombie in the deepest part of the Dungeon."

"Young Master, Young Master, th-this... aren't we killing it?"

"Hm?"

Zhang Ming turned his head, displeasure on his face.

It was the kind of displeasure one felt when they had just found an interesting toy and someone tried to snatch it away before they could even play with it.

Looking at Wang Song, Zhang Ming said coldly, "I speak. You act."

After saying that, he noticed the blood at the corner of Wang Song's mouth and the injuries covering his body.

Zhang Ming's expression softened slightly.

"Just do as I say. Don't worry—so long as the Long Spear isn't pulled out, the zombie won't pose a threat."

"Oh, and this time, it was thanks to you—and all of you."

His gaze fell upon the scattered group.

"You have all rendered meritorious service in defending the Zhang Family. Ten taels of silver for each person. Those left crippled or with lasting injuries will receive twenty taels, and the Zhang Family will support you for the rest of your lives."

"For those unfortunate enough to have died, the compensation shall be fifty taels. Their children and families will all be provided for by the Zhang Family."

Those words, and the enormous rewards they promised, left everyone deeply grateful.

Even the pain in their bodies seemed not quite so painful anymore.

A few minutes later.

His parents, who had hidden in the secret-room Underground Fortress from the moment the zombie attacked, finally emerged.

"Are you all right? Has it been resolved?"

Seeing that although most people were wounded, the familiar faces were all still there, Zhang Yongfeng let out a long sigh of relief.

"Father, don't worry. It's been resolved."

Zhang Ming looked at the people beside him.

"You should all get to work. Collect your reward money from the steward, then rest and recover properly."

After sending them away, Zhang Ming helped his parents back to the rear courtyard.

In the rear courtyard.

After pouring each of his parents a cup of tea and soothing their emotions, Zhang Ming slowly told them of his suspicions and everything he had seen and heard.

Upon hearing it, Zhang Yongfeng's face turned livid with rage.

"What an ungrateful old bastard! The Zhang Family never treated him poorly. From the day he sold himself to the Zhang Family and became a slave, his monthly wages and rewards were never lacking.

Even when he betrayed us from within some time ago, we merely expelled him from the family without pursuing the matter, thinking it best to part on good terms and release him from slave status."

"Who would have thought that the first thing this old bastard would do after dying was seek revenge on us?"

Zhang Yongfeng was furious.

He was angry both at the Old Steward's actions and at himself for never realizing what kind of person the Old Steward was.

"Calm down, calm down. He hid it too well—it's not your fault."

His mother, Li Su, comforted him from the side.

"Yeah. I just can't swallow this anger."

To be fair, Zhang Yongfeng felt he had treated the Old Steward extremely well.

As a slave, if the Old Steward had made a mistake and been beaten to death by his master's family, all it would have taken was a small compensation payment to settle the matter.

The Zhang Family had not pursued responsibility, and had even allowed him to leave slave status without spending a single coin. That was already a tremendous favor.

Yet this was the outcome they received.

"Dad, don't be angry. It may not be what you think."

"Maybe he simply can't tell the difference and is only acting on instinct."

After death, people became ghosts and sought revenge against those they had hated in life.

At first glance, it sounded perfectly reasonable.

But on closer thought, if even life and death could be reversed, would they really care about what happened while they were alive? Wasn't that merely the wishful thinking of mortals—the living?

And now martial arts, Demon Beasts, Zombies, and ghosts had all appeared.

Were their former beliefs really correct?

This so-called revenge against the "murderer" might simply be meant to guide people toward goodness, to make them believe that good would be rewarded and evil repaid.

In any case, taking revenge on those one hated was only one possibility. It was not necessarily true.